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DICTATORS are not born, but created by “we the people” due to political, economic and social conditions obtaining in a country. In dire economic and political situations, “we the people” are desperate for quick solutions to our problems to the extent that we fail to see the writing on the wall. The French, Germans, Italians and Spaniards — the list is endless — did not see it coming because they were mired in debilitating political and economic crises. Dictators emerge from such environments as “we the people” expect a Messiah to usher us into a land flowing with milk and honey.

Robert Mugabe (RGM), the late former President of Zimbabwe was not born a dictator. Although some may argue that as he was growing up in Zvimba, Mugabe displayed a dictatorial disposition. Zanu PF, as a party, and “we the people” of Zimbabwe significantly contributed to shape and mold RGM into one of Africa’s notorious and infamous dictators. Slogans such as Pamberi navaMugabe; VaMugabe Chete; and VaMugabe ndibaba etc no doubt played a significant role in shaping Mugabe’s political character. As “we the people” focused our attention on ending white supremacy and the destruction of colonial structures and institutions, we blindly and uncritically eulogised Mugabe. Roads, airports, schools, children, etc were named after him.

The Mugabe dictatorship did show us that dictators love power (and do anything and everything to get it or preserve it); surround themselves with sycophants and homeboys and homegirls; are uncomfortable with criticism, and eliminate their opponents, etc. Nelson “Cobra” Chamisa (NC) took over the MDC-T presidency in controversial and dramatic circumstances. With the assistance of the MDC-T’s national executive council (NEC), he literally and forcefully grabbed the presidency of the party — the Zimbabwean version of Napoleon Bonaparte’s coup Brumaire.

His supporters within the NEC used the MDC-T constitution to justify Chamisa’s ascendancy to the coveted MDC presidency. The opposition party’s NC could not have pulled this great feat without the support of “we the people”.

As an individual, Chamisa demonstrated his love for power in that he could not even wait to bury Morgan Richard Tsvangirai (MRT) the very same person who had handpicked him as one of the MDC-T vice-presidents after dismally losing the secretary-general contest to Douglas Mwonzora (DM).

Like Mugabe, Chamisa interfered in the MDC congress to make sure his surrogates were elected to key positions in the party. He has effectively surrounded himself with praise singers (whose political careers depend upon him eg Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube; MaKhumalo, etc) and homeboys and homegirls from Masvingo. The outcry and rightly so from Mthwakazi is that NC has imposed a Shona leadership in the region.

Furthermore, like all other dictators, Chamisa is uncomfortable with criticism and dissenting voices. DM can testify to this. He has become a target of a vicious campaign to discredit and malign him and ultimately to push him out of the party. Chamisa has not forgotten his loss to DM at the 2014 congress and views him as the greatest threat to his presidency.
It reminds us of the Mugabe-Sithole leadership controversy in Zanu that emanated from the first Zanu congress in Gweru. The worrisome and troubling reality is that NC is an admirer of RGM as demonstrated by his statements after the demise of our former dear leader.

“We the people” have not learned anything from the Mugabe dictatorship. The same slogans we did for RGM are being chanted for Chamisa — Chamisa Chete Chete.
The youth and their leadership are the purveyors of the Chamisa Chete Chete mantra. In their desperation, the youth have become the running dogs of a promising NC dictatorship as MDC president. The youth are repeating the same mistake they did with RGM.

In the heydays of the Mugabe dictatorship the youth were its vociferous defenders. “We the people” need a strong opposition party, but cannot afford to create yet another dictator after 37 years of Mugabe iron fist rule. “We the people” should guard against the glorification of our leaders, but instead, force them to build strong institutions that prevent the emergence of dictators.

The locus of authority (the centre of power as the disgraced former professor in Mugabe’s Cabinet used to call it) cannot be vested in one man. Zimbabwe as a republic must generate virtuous men and women to lead our nation to greatness.

l Lovemore Sibanda PhD is assistant professor of History/Social Studies College of Education, Teacher Education and Administration Department at the University of North Texas, United States

BY STAFF REPORTER

ALPHA Media Holdings (AMH) journalists reigned supreme two weeks ago when they scooped seven awards at the 2019 National Journalism and Media Awards (Njama) in Harare.

AMH is the largest privately-owned media house in Zimbabwe and publishes NewsDay, Southern Eye, The Standard and Zimbabwe Independent, in addition to running an online radion station — HStv.

Early this year, AMH journalists also came out tops after scooping awards in various categories at the Mining Media Awards.

The group’s Mashonaland East reporter Jairos Saunyama and Bulawayo-based business reporter Mthandazo Nyoni were the toast of the day after each scooped two awards.

Saunyama won the Arts, Culture and Entertainment Reporter of the Year as well as the ICT Journalist of the Year awards, while Nyoni scooped the Business Journalist of the Year and the Financial Journalist of the Year awards.

Moses Mugugunyeki walked away with the Sustainable Development Goal (6) Journalist of the Year award, while the group’s Masvingo-based correspondent Tatenda Chitagu won the Convention on the Rights of the Child @ 30 Child Journalist of the Year award.

Saunyama, Nyoni and Mugugunyeki’s stories were published in The Standard.

Zimbabwe Independent’s Tinashe Kairiza scooped the News Journalist of the Year award.

Held under the theme Media, Communities and Climate Change, Njama is hosted by the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) each year to honour journalists who would have excelled in covering issues that have great impact on society.

This year’s edition was graced by Chinese deputy ambassador Zhao Baogang and Unesco regional communications and information advisor Al Amin Yusuph.

Yusuph, who was the guest of honour, urged the media to be in the forefront in creating awareness about climate change.

ZUJ secretary-general Foster Dongozi said the ongoing reforms should allow for self-regulation of the media and do away with the criminalisation of the profession.

editorial comment

ONE of the greatest ancient Greek playwrights and poets, Euripides, famous for the many tragedies he wrote, including Medea and The Bacchae – which probed the darker side of human nature, once wrote: “Those whom God wishes to destroy, he first makes mad.” (c. 485-406 BC)
And for anyone who has bothered to follow Zimbabwe’s topsy turvy tragic political affairs from the days of racist Ian Douglas Smith till today, at varying stages in the life of this nation, events and behaviours of those in power have aptly proved Euripides’ prophetic assertion.

At the height of the bitter bush war between the Rhodesian Forces and guerrillas fighting for majority rule in the country, Smith declared in 1976: “Let me say it again. I don’t believe in black majority rule ever in Rhodesia—not in a thousand years.” Four years later, black majority rule visited the southern African country and Zimbabwe was born. Tragically, the country’s next ruler, the late former President Robert Mugabe fell into the very same trappings of power and ruled the country asserting, albeit through his proxies, that he would rule Zimbabwe till he dropped dead. What happened after 37 years of his rule is yet another tragic page of Zimbabwe’s troubled political history.

Today, the country has opened yet another tragic political page as President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s two-year-old government continues to behave in the most bizarre manner as it, among other crazy decisions, fires 77 doctors at government hospitals who have protested for the past two months for better pay and working conditions. It is utterly unbelievable that a whole Cabinet can make such a decision without batting an eyelid. Maybe, it is because they don’t care since none of them are treated by any of those doctors, let alone at the government hospitals. One of them, Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga has been in a hospital in the Far East for months. They are forgetting that nothing lasts forever and are currently so intoxicated with power that their ears can no longer hear the voices of reason.

Even as the number of dissenting voices grows by the day, Cabinet is becoming more obstinate and burying their heads in the sand refusing to come to terms with the tragedy unfolding around them.

While the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Harare Archbishop Robert Christopher Ndlovu — the latest high-profile individual to call out the powers-that-be — has placed the blame on the leaders of both the ruling party and the main opposition MDC, the buck — at the end of the day, stops with those who are in power. Ndlovu says: “If they are all for the people, as they claim to be, they must show that through humility and willingness to engage in meaningful discussions for the benefit of the people and country.”

Granted, but a very old Shona adage schools us thus: “Gudo guru peta muswe kuti vaduku vakutye.” Literally translated it means, an elderly baboon should not let loose its tail. So, in other words, those discussions can only happen only after Mnangagwa decides to fold his tail. Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa is being headstrong simply because Mnangagwa is not prepared to get down from his lofty chair and speak to the commoner, Chamisa. Such is the tragedy the country finds itself in.

BY MTHANDAZO NYONI

ZIMBABWEANS across the country love locally-produced goods, but issues to do with availability, affordability and quality, among others, have forced them to buy foreign products at the expense of local ones.

The southern African nation’s manufacturing sector is reeling under a plethora of challenges, chief among them shortage of raw material, scarce foreign currency, cheap imports, crippling power cuts, a brain drain and limited access to credit.

The sector’s capacity utilisation levels have been on a decline since 2012 and last year it stood at 48%.

This year, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries projected that the figure would drop to about 30% due to negative macro-economic factors that affected the country since January.

Due to these challenges, the sector has struggled to produce affordable and competitive goods, forcing citizens to opt for cheaper foreign products.

“We have issues to do with quality and price. It’s not like people like foreign things, people have limited choices. People like locally-produced goods, but they are not readily available. Those that are available, we have seen people buying them,” economic analyst, Persistence Gwanyanya, said.

“The challenge that we are having in Zimbabwe is that there is no production. There are no industries. Industries are closed and as a result, there are no goods to buy. The solution is to increase production. Production is basic,” he said.

For instance, two litres of locally-produced cooking oil costs about $60, but the imported one from South Africa costs around $40.

Inflationary pressures have seen the cost of living rising beyond the reach of many, as prices of basic commodities have more than quadrupled, resulting in the poverty datum line for an average family of five skyrocketing to $2 191,62 in September 2019.

Before Finance minister Mthuli Ncube suspended the publication of annualised inflation figures until February 2020, the inflation figures stood at 176% as at the end of June 2019.

Buy Zimbabwe, whose mandate is to promote, deepen and broaden the utilisation of locally-sourced and produced resources, has conducted a number of national awareness programmes across the country, emphasising the need for consumption of locally-made products to boost industry’s production capacity and eventually bring down the country’s import bill.

Government has even placed some products on import restrictions as part of a strategy to narrow its trade deficit, and help revive local industries.

According to the industrialists, Zimbabwe needs over US$8 billion to replace old equipment in its factories and revive local industries.

But due to issues of affordability, quality and availability, these efforts have yielded very little.

Buy Zimbabwe admitted: “It’s of no doubt that local people perceive local products as of good quality than foreign ones, but in some instances they are forced to go for foreign products because of availability and affordability.”

Prices of basic goods such as mealie meal, sugar, milk, rice and cooking oil, among others, are skyrocketing daily beyond the reach of ordinary Zimbabweans.

Economic analyst, John Robertson, commended the quality of some of the Zimbabweans products compared to some foreign goods found on the market.

“I think that most Zimbabweans would rather have Zimbabwean clothing and shoes if the only option is Chinese. I know that some Chinese goods are of very high quality, but I suspect we always made better clothing than they did,” he said.

“For the hi-tech and technical items, like electrical appliances, I’m sorry to say that we’ve not kept up with production methods, the use of more modern materials and upgraded designs, so a Zimbabwean toaster or kettle won’t compare with a modern import,” Robertson said.

He said Zimbabwe used to be as up-to-date as any country and when it made Supersonic radios, they could be exported around the world in competition with the best from Japan, Holland or Germany.

“But, we couldn’t keep pace with technological changes and today’s radios consist of a few microchips that didn’t exist when Supersonic was a big, successful company,” he said.

“When Fashion Enterprises was running, Zimbabwe exported ladies’ dresses to France and Superior Footwear exported shoes to Italy and Dairibord exported cheese to Greece and the whole of Europe was keen to buy Zimbabwean beef.

“We invested in the training of designers and toolmakers and our skills kept us competitive. The real question is: ‘What did we do that made us slip down so badly? Confidence dropped, investment in skills stopped and the trained people left the country for better jobs elsewhere. We have a lot to do to rebuild and we have to start with confidence!”

In one of his writings, Maqhawe Dube, a marketing strategist, said Buy Zimbabwe needed to recruit genuine ambassadors of the Zimbabwe brand — people who would not wait until a Zimbabwean product is the best to love it, but who will love it until it is the best.

“And there is great need to be wise about it. Clearly, Zimbabwean politics is divisive and, therefore, a political figure from either side would alienate a portion of the population. We may need to appeal to respected professionals and those in the arts and culture space to take up this mantle,” he wrote.

To address issues of quality, affordability and availability, analysts said there was need to capacitate industry.

They also called upon government to create a conducive investment environment.

BY MISHMA CHAKANYUKA

TELECOMMUNICATIONS company, TelOne has increased its tariffs by 199,35% with effect from yesterday.

In a statement, TelOne said the new rates were approved by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) and were necessitated by the group’s desire to provide world class services to its customers.

“Please, be advised that as per approvals granted by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe, TelOne rates will be increased by 199,35% effective November 6, 2019,” the notice read.

“This increase has been necessitated by our continued desire to provide world class connectivity and digital solutions to you, our valued customer. Your respective account manager will engage you further on how the change will be effected to your account.”

This comes after Potraz, last month approved an upward voice, data and SMS tariff review of 95,39% for both mobile and fixed network operators, saying previous tariffs had been eroded by inflationary pressures.

Inflation figures have been escalating since the beginning of the year, reaching an all high year-on-year of 175,66% in June, before government banned the publication of the figures in August.

In September, month-on-month inflation decelerated by 0,35 percentage points to 17,72% from 18,07% in August.

The increase in tariffs comes at a time Zimbabwe is facing an economic crisis coupled by foreign currency, power shortages, fuel price hikes and inflation, which has rendered the operating environment difficult for business operators.

Both fuel and electricity are important in the operations of telecommunication companies, to power base stations.

Last week, fuel price went up by 12% to $16,75 per litre from $14,97 for petrol, while diesel was up by $1,83 to $17,47. Later in the week, there was a 4c downward price adjustment on the commodity.

The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority last month allowed the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority to increase electricity tariffs by 320% to 162,16 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) in a bid to improve the country’s power supply.

BY HENRY MHARA

WARRIORS coach Joey Antipas has trimmed his squad to 24 players, who will be in camp next week for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Group H matches against Botswana and Zambia.

Zimbabwe begins their qualification campaign with a home match against the Zebras of Botswana on Friday next week at the National Sports Stadium.

The match, which had initially been scheduled for Barbourfields Stadium in Bulawayo, before being moved to the capital due to logistical reasons, will kick-off at 6pm.

Antipas’ men will travel to Zambia for their second group match four days later. The group also has African champions Algeria, who Zimbabwe will face later in the campaign.

Top two teams will qualify for the Afcon finals set for Cameroon in 2021.

Thirty-two men had initially been called for camp which begins on Monday next week, but Zifa yesterday said only 24 will now group for the match.

“Only 24 players will report for camp for the two matches against Botswana and Zambia. The Warriors technical team is finalising the squad,” Zifa communications manager Xolisani Gwesela said.

He also gave the itinerary for the two matches: “Players are expected to start arriving in camp on Monday for the Friday match. The team will leave for Zambia on Sunday, the 17th for the match on Tuesday.”

The association has reduced the number of players coming to camp to try and reduce costs which include travelling, accommodation and allowances.

A source in the Warriors technical team said all the high-profile names, such as Knowledge Musona have been included in a squad to be announced before the end of this week.

“All the regulars, especially those who played at the Afcon in Egypt will make up the squad,” a source, who refused to be named, said.

Besides Musona, other big names that are set to make the list are Marvellous Nakamba, Ovidy Karuru, Tino Kadewere, Khama Billiat, Knox Mutizwa, Marshall Munetsi, Teenage Hadebe, Alec Mudimu, Ronald Pfumbidzai, Devine Lunga, Thabani Kamusoko and two goalkeepers Elvis Chipezeze and Simba Chinani.

Third choice goalkeeper Martin Mapisa, who is based in Spain, is doubtful and Antipas is likely to call another goalie.

England-based Macauley Bonne of Charlton Athletic and Bolton Wonderers’ Adam Chicksen will also make the squad as they are likely to get their Zimbabwean passports this week.

“All their application papers were submitted and we are now waiting for the Registrar General’s Office to issue them the passports,” Gwesela said.

There is also hope that Bournemouth’s Jordan Zemura and Cliff Moyo will also get their passports in time for the two matches.

The major casualty could be Leicester City striker Admiral Muskwe, who is set to be dropped, alongside other players born or raised in Europe – Douglas Nyaupembe and Tivonge Rushesha, while Jonah Fabisch has already pulled out.

The local-based duo of Prince Dube and Patson Jaure are likely to be rewarded for their good performance in the African Nations Championships qualifiers with an inclusion in the Afcon squad.

By Ruvimbo Muchenje

Harare City Council nurses have defied an ultimatum to return to work, saying they would only report for duty once their demands for better working conditions have been addressed.

Council acting human capital director Mathew Marara on Tuesday declared the strike illegal and ordered the nurses to immediately return to work, failure of which disciplinary action would be taken against them.

But Zimbabwe Urban and Rural Council Nurses Workers’ Union (ZURCNWU) secretary-general Tedious Chisango yesterday told NewsDay that they would only return to work when their salaries are pegged to the interbank market rate.

“We have also clearly indicated to the council to pay us our salaries at the current interbank rate, not the peanuts we are getting. On my contract of employment I signed for a salary of US$940 not $1 200,” Chisango said.

The nurses downed tools on Monday, citing incapacitation.

“Council is wrong to refer to this dispute as a strike. We are not on strike, but we are just severely incapacitated. We do not have any means to go to work. No money for transport and no money to sustain our families. Today is November 6 (yesterday), but up to now we haven’t received any salaries for October,” he added.

Chisango also dismissed claims by council that ZURCNWU was a bogus union.

“Whoever fails to recognise our union must revisit the Labour Act Chapter 28:1 because we are legally registered in this country and we have a certificate signed by the Labour minister,” he said.

The ZURCNWU boss confirmed that dialogue between council and the employees was ongoing.

“We haven’t agreed on anything yet, but council health services director Prosper Chonzi has invited us for a meeting,” he said.

Chisango said the union met with the industrial relations manager, but failed to break the impasse.

by MOSES GAHADZA

As the world moves towards ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, key populations who include people in prison settings, remain underserved. UNAIDS considers gay men and other men who have sex with men, sex workers, transgender people, people who inject drugs and prisoners and other incarcerated people as the five main key population groups that are particularly vulnerable to HIV and frequently lack adequate access to services.

Now, as MOSES MAGADZA reports, Namibia, with support from UNAIDS, UNODC and I-TECH, is training nurses to initiate HIV treatment for people in prison settings, among the last frontiers in the global response to the epidemic.

WINDHOEK- The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) in Namibia is supporting the training of nurses from the Namibian Correctional Service (NCS) to initiate inmates on antiretroviral treatment (ART) as global efforts to take health care services closer to the people gain momentum.

On Monday, approximately 30 nurses from NCS facilities throughout the country met in Windhoek for a five-day training on how to initiate inmates living with HIV on ART and manage them. UNAIDS funded the training while the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Ministry of Health and Social Services and the International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH) provided technical support.

Speaking at the start of the training, the newly-appointed Country Director for UNAIDS Namibia, Alti Zwandor, an epidemiologist, said Namibia had done remarkably well in one of 10 global targets agreed by world leaders at the High-Level Meeting in 2016 related to Ending AIDS by 2030, but there was scope for more to be done.

Progress but…

“Namibia met the 90-90-90 targets three years ahead of schedule. That is the good news. The bad news is that Namibia is unlikely to reach the target of reducing new HIV infections by 75% by 2020. That is why this training of nurses working in prison settings is very important,” Zwandor said.

The world has set ambitious targets to ensure that by 2020, 90% of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status, 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy and 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression.

Other targets seek to reduce new HIV infections by 75%, ensure that there is social protection for all people, particularly the vulnerable, and ensure that 30% of all resources for responding to HIV are channeled through Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) by the year 2020.

While noting that treatment was an important tool for prevention, she said globally, the prevalence of HIV among people in prison settings was much higher than in the general population.

Plight of key populations

“People who are incarcerated have a prevalence of five times more than the general population. Key populations that include people who inject drugs, sex workers, transgender people, gay people and men who have sex with other men tend to be over-represented in prison populations,” Zwandor said.

She said certain environmental, social, cultural, human rights and biological factors exacerbate the vulnerability of people in prison settings to HIV infection.

“This could be due to risky behavior such as sharing needles and syringes, unprotected sex, sexual violence and lack of access to comprehensive HIV prevention and harm reduction services,” she said.

UNAIDS advocates for a minimum package of services for people in prison that includes but is not limited to: access to HIV testing; availability of ART programmes; access to condoms; opioid substitution therapy; and provision of sterile injecting equipment.

It calls, also, for the availability of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PREP) services.

Yawning gaps

At the Melbourne AIDS Conference in 2014, UNAIDS released a report now popularly known as the Gap Report, which identifies yawning gaps in the global response to HIV and AIDS.

Notably, the report identifies 12 key population groups including prisoners, who are deemed central to ending the global HIV epidemic.

The identified key population groups comprise people who have increased risk of HIV infection, who lack access to services and experience a plethora of human rights violations.

The report recommends concerted efforts and attention to providing services and increasing access to those population groups lest the target to end AIDS by the year 2030 remains a pipe dream.

Similarly, another UNAIDS global report made available on the 28th of October 2019, notes that despite the relative ease of access to HIV- related services for all people, prison populations remain underserved.

A recent review of country reports to UNAIDS in the last three years, showed that many prisoners are lacking basic HIV services.

The review found that very few countries reported programme data on the provision of HIV services in prisons with only one in three countries providing condoms, 24 countries providing opioid substitution therapy while three countries provided sterile injecting equipment in prisons.

With regards to HIV testing and treatment, the report found that 74 countries reported programme data on antiretroviral therapy coverage while 83 countries reported HIV testing in prisons.

Building capacity

On why UNAIDS had supported the nurse-initiated antiretroviral programme in Namibia, Zwandor said the last five years had demonstrated the need for Member States to rapidly expand and scale up access to HIV prevention and treatment services to everyone including key populations.

“If we are going to depend on just medical doctors, we might as well forget about our dreams of ending AIDS. We are at a point where if nurses are well-trained ,there is no reason why they cannot initiate and manage a stable person on ART. Complicated cases can be referred to medical doctors but if we are going to roll out and take services closer to the people, we must involve nurses,” she said.

She argued that bringing nurses on board to initiate patients on ART treatment would increase the pool of skilled health professionals while improving the quality of care that people living with HIV get.

She explained that the nurse-initiated antiretroviral programmes was not unique to Namibia but had been tried and tested elsewhere.

“It is a global initiative that the World Health Organization (WHO) encourages. It falls within the global guidelines for managing people
living with HIV,” she said.

Stressing that population and location are important considerations in the quest for universal access to comprehensive and equitable health care, Zwandor said capacity development and empowerment of every cadre in health was imperative given the widespread shortage of specialized human resources for health in many developing countries.

She was optimistic that the ongoing training of nurses would increase the number of skilled professionals to manage people living with HIV in correctional settings.

“It will make it possible for people who test positive for HIV to be started on ART immediately. We know that the earlier we initiate people on treatment, the better the outcome.”

Right direction

Idel Billah, a medical doctor and the Deputy Director of Clinical Services at I–TECH, also hailed the training as a giant leap in the right direction, saying it would “phenomenally increase” the number of people who can provide expert care to people living with HIV in prison settings.

“The training will boost human and organizational capacity for the NCS to respond to HIV. We are trying to task-shift the job of looking after people living with HIV from medical doctors to nurses.

There are many facilities with inmates living with HIV but not enough medical doctors. It would be good for NCS to have people able to look after such inmates,”
he said.

The trained nurses are expected to support inmates on counselling, HIV testing, initiation on treatment, adhering to treatment and managing complications that might arise.

-Moses Magadza is Communications Officer for the UNODC Regional
Office for Southern Africa.z